The Swivelpole™ is described in the International Patent Application published as WO0125687, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference. This product consists of a light pole which has a swivelling joint along its length. The swivelling joint allows for safer and easier changing and repair of lights than had previously been available.
The Swivelpole™ has proved highly successful, and has become an important safety feature in many industrial, mining, and oil-and-gas installations. Nonetheless, the Swivelpole™ is not suitable for all situations. In particular, for poles in excess of 4 m in height, and having a heavy luminaire at the remote end, use of the Swivelpole™ becomes problematic due to the high moment generated by the weight of the luminaire.
The present invention seeks to provide an alternative mechanism for lowering a pole, which may be suitable for relatively high light poles and other structures.